Cooking With Cannabis: How To Make Cannabutter

Cannabis edibles are a delicious way to use therapeutically and consume cannabis recreationally. The most foundational ingredient of yummy cannabis edibles is cannabutter. Yet, finding a reliable, foolproof recipe for making cannabutter at home can be difficult. Well, not anymore! This article will show you how to make delicious cannabutter at home to start experimenting with cannabis in your kitchen.

What is Cannabutter?

One could guess that cannabutter is what its name implies: a combination of cannabis and butter. Cannabutter is an essential ingredient in many different cannabis products. However, it is most commonly used to make cannabis edibles - specifically baked goods. 

Making cannabutter, or cannabis-infused butter, is a fun activity to do with family and friends. So, let's get started!

The Science Behind Cannabis Butter

For your home-made edibles to produce psychoactive effects, you need to extract the THC from your cannabis using butter or oil first. There are several ways to do this, but infusing butter using the method below and then using that butter in your favorite recipes is arguably the simplest.

Two key factors influence how cannabis is infused into another product like butter or oil. The first is the base you choose to infuse. THC is a fat-soluble compound, meaning it tends to saturate best in high-fat products like butter, lard, oil, or ghee. THC isn't known to be water-soluble.

The second - and arguably more important - is the heat settings. Many cannabis users are surprised to find out that their weed doesn't naturally contain THC. Instead, live cannabis plants contain THCA, or 9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, an acidic and non-psychoactive form of THC.

To transform THCA into THC, harvested plants go through three distinct processes; drying, curing, and combustion.

How To Make Cannabutter At Home

Now since you understand the importance of cannabutter as the main ingredient in making edibles, let's go over a simple recipe you can use to make your very own. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 ounce (or 14 grams) of weed
• 1 liter of water
• 4 sticks (or roughly 450 grams) of quality butter

Equipment

• Glass baking dish or sheet pan
• Oven
• Stove
• Glass baking dish or sheet pan
• Baking paper
• Grinder
• Saucepan
• Cheesecloth (or other cotton fabric)
• Container for storage

Decarboxylating the Cannabis

It's essential to make sure your first step in the cannabutter making process is baking your cannabis. Yep, that's right. In its raw form, cannabis contains tetrahydrocannabinol acid (THCA), which does not produce high effects. However, heating the cannabis converts THCA into THC, activating the psychoactive molecule of the cannabis plant. 

There is more than one way to go about the cannabis decarboxylation process. While some cannabis experts recommend individuals to decarb the cannabis in hot butter, others think differently. The less time soaking the weed, the better the butter will taste. Accordingly, others prefer to decarb cannabis in the oven first.

Cannabutter Recipe Directions

1. First, decarb the cannabis. The first step is to decarb the cannabis. Set your oven to preheat at 230ºF. To prevent sticking, cover your oven-safe tray in parchment paper. After placing your cannabis buds on the sheet, go ahead and insert the tray, leaving it in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Low and slow is the best method when decarbing cannabis to preserve the cannabinoids. 
2. Next, preheat. If you haven't already, preheat your oven to 230°F (110°C).
3. Then, grind. Coarsely grind your decarboxylated weed with a hand grinder. 
4. Melt the butter. Boil 1 liter of cold water in a saucepan. Then, add in one stick of butter. Simmer on low and let the butter melt. Adding water helps regulate the temperature and prevents the butter from burning.
5. Then, add the decarboxylated cannabis. Once the butter begins to melt, it's time to mix in your ground decarboxylated cannabis. Immediately bring the heat down to a minimum, so the mixture reaches a soft simmer.
6. After that, simmer time. Let the mixture simmer on low heat - ideally above 160ºF but never exceeding 200ºF - for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The mixture should never come to a full boil. You'll know when it's time to take it off the stove when the mixture has achieved a thick, glossy, and oily texture.
7. Cool. Let the mixture cool for at least 30 minutes.
8. Strain. Once the butter has cooled, it's time to strain the cannabutter mixture through your cheesecloth - or other cotton material - and into a container. (Tip: Squeezing the cheesecloth may push more bad-tasting plant material through).
9. Then, refrigerate. Cover your butter and let it set in the fridge for roughly 2 hours. The butter will settle above any remaining water, at which point you can easily remove and store it like you would regular butter.
10. Finally, dose carefully. Below you will find dosage information for cannabutter. Refer to the dosages before adding your butter to snacks, dishes, and desserts.

Note: Cannabutter will last several weeks in the fridge in an airtight container and up to 6 months in the freezer.

How to Use Cannabutter

You can use cannabutter like you would use regular butter or oil in both sweet and savory recipes like classic brownies and cannabis chocolate cookies. Here are some of our favorite recipes using cannabutter:

• Cannabis Mac n' Cheese
• Cannabutter Chicken
• Next-Level Pot Brownies
• Cannabis-Infused Lobster Flatbread

You can incorporate cannabutter into any recipe that calls for traditional butter. So, you can easily add the ingredient into foods aligning with your personal preferences and dietary needs. Cannabutter is also a versatile, smoke-free cannabis product that improves sleep quality while managing nausea, vomiting, and pain.

Follow our greenrush blog for more cannabis cooking tips!

Tips for Cannabutter Dosage

Various factors can affect the potency of your cannabutter, from how long it was cooked to the potency of your untouched cannabis bud. For example, things like the type of cannabis strain - indica and sativa - even influence the outcome of your cannabutter.

Cannabis professionals highly recommend testing the potency of your finished cannabutter product before mixing it with another recipe. First, try spreading ¼ or ½ teaspoon on a snack. Then, wait one hour and see how that dosing has affected you. From there, you can use the first dose as a baseline and continue upping it ever so slightly.

Ready To Get Cooking?

So, you know how to make your very own cannabutter at home. Now all you need is some high-grade weed to make the magic happen… 

With options for delivery and pick up, the greenrush app is the easiest way to buy weed. Shop thousands of products— including flower, edibles, concentrates, pre-rolls, and more.

Join greenrush and get cannabis delivered today.